Making progress happen

I first visited Iloilo in the 80s as part of Petron’s marketing team checking out our gas stations nationwide. The most memorable part of the trip was when our salesmen took us to the La Paz public market for a steaming hot bowl of batchoy. That was impressive. The succeeding trips I took for the Lopez Group had me getting a good tour of the best restaurants there. If falling love has anything to do with a happy tummy, Iloilo had me head over heels in love with the city.

A year or so before the pandemic, I was invited to visit Iloilo with a group of journalists. I was amazed at the transformation. The centerpiece at the time was the Iloilo River esplanade designed by Paulo Alcazaren, a Filipino environmental architect who was also responsible for Clarke Quay at the bank of Singapore River and the wide pedestrian walk along Orchard Road.

The moving force behind Iloilo City’s transformation was Sen. Frank Drilon who worked closely with local officials led by Mayor Jerry Treñas and former mayor Jed Mabilog.

There was a lot that needed fixing in Iloilo. In the book launched last week to show Iloilo’s transformation, Sen. Frank wrote the foreword titled “The Art of the Possible.”

“Iloilo was plagued by 13-hour power outages even as electricity rates remained outrageously high. It thus came as no surprise that Iloilo failed to ride the wave of the thriving business process outsourcing industry, or that investors brought their businesses elsewhere. And while other Philippine cities were rushing into the arms of progress and prosperity, Iloilo was trudging down the road to obscurity and mediocrity because of poor infrastructure.”

So, Sen. Frank recalls, “I had made it my personal mission to restore Iloilo’s pride of place… it was clear to me that as Ilonggos we could all get behind a sustainable campaign to transform Iloilo into a future-proof, top-of-mind destination by wisely using our strengths – our strategic location, vast talent pool, abundant natural resources and a flourishing consumer market.

“By prioritizing infrastructure development, we not only set out to enhance the road network but, more importantly, to create a conducive environment for investments, job creation, and improved livelihoods for all Ilonggos… Our development strategy, which tapped the power of public-private partnerships, was straightforward in its pursuit of poverty reduction and sustained economic growth…

“We lost no time getting down to work. In 1999, we spearheaded the construction of the Iloilo International Airport – the first in Western Visayas built to international standards – and the widening of old, narrow roads…”

The senator takes pride in the rehabilitation of the Iloilo River in 2011, “which I started with an initial funding of P80 million out of my PDAF… We had it dredged. We restored the river to its original boundaries based on a 1930 cadastral survey and demolished many illegal structures that had been slowly killing it – derelicts, sunken and idle vessels, as well as the illegal fish pens, fish ponds and dikes, which for decades blocked the river flow.

“This instructive experience stands out. First, we witnessed the extent of the defiance of illegal business operators and informal settlers and their enablers that allowed several prohibited establishments and structures on public land.

“For example, there was a huge beer garden that openly used the river as a toilet. Rather than taking the matter to court or waiting for a court order, which would’ve dragged on for years, and after fruitless attempts at convincing the owner to set up shop elsewhere, I decided to invoke the legal principle of “nuisance per se”– an act or thing or structure or property that is a nuisance under any and all circumstances, as it constitutes a direct menace to public health or safety – and ordered the structure’s demolition.

“Today, the river is no longer a community toilet, but a clean body of life-giving water where people can fish and where occasional dragon boat races are held. The rehabilitation of the Iloilo River and the creation of the Esplanade have become models of urban development in the Philippines. We relocated the informal settlers living on the banks of the Iloilo River to 1,000 units of low-cost housing at River Plains Subdivision in Jaro.”

Sen. Drilon said the Iloilo River project demonstrated “the compelling power of political will, consistency in words and deeds, private sector support and the absence of personal agendas to instigate change and inspire the people’s cooperation and sense of pride and ownership. There was no one winner in the high-stakes river rehabilitation project; an entire city, its people and succeeding generations stood to gain from ensuring the undertaking’s success.”

The improvement of Iloilo’s road network is also key. The 14-km Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Avenue, known as the Diversion Road, was widened to 10 lanes, serving as the city’s primary gateway. Then there is the four-lane, 15-km President Corazon C. Aquino Avenue, commonly referred to as the circumferential road, which not only eased traffic congestion but also opened new areas for development. Three bridges across the Iloilo River were constructed.

“The P1-billion, seven-km, four-lane Iloilo Sunset Boulevard, running from Mandurriao, Iloilo City, to the municipality of Oton, Iloilo, along the scenic Iloilo River, is nearing completion. This project also includes an esplanade and a bike lane. We also spruced up decades-old heritage structures and landmarks.

“In Iloilo, we are nurturing big dreams and are working hard to realize these dreams. But even more important, the story of Iloilo is not just the story of the Ilonggos. It is the story of Filipinos. It is the story of a people determined to scale new heights of economic and social success. We want to show the whole country that if it can be done in Iloilo, it can be done anywhere else in the archipelago.”

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco